Govt to go ahead with coal sector reforms

Coal workers across the country have resumed work after a two-day strike and promised to make up for an estimated 1 million tonne production loss, as the government assured that state-run behemoth Coal India will not be privatised and employees' interests would be paramount.

At the same time, the government will move ahead with its plans to dilute some stake in Coal India Ltd (CIL) and to open up the coal sector for private mining.

"There is absolutely no change in any of our plans," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday.

"They (unions) have assured me that they will be part of mission 100 crores tonnes (Coal India's production by 2019-20) and they have assured me that they will make up for the loss of production of about a million tonne," he said.

Nearly 5 lakh coal workers had gone on a strike on Tuesday after five major trade unions, including BJP-backed Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, gave a call for the biggest ever industrial action in four decades. They were protesting against what they called attempts for "divestment in Coal India and denationalisation of coal mining".

The unions had given call for a five-day strike, but called it off after the end of the second day, following over six-hour-long marathon meeting between trade union leaders and Goyal, among others, that continued till late last night.

In two days, the strike is estimated to have caused Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion) production loss, while it had also raised fears that a prolonged strike could lead to a possible electricity crisis if nearly 100 thermal power plants run out of fuel supplies.

The minister said that the trade unions have assured complete cooperation in the future as well, and they all will contribute to a "very bright future for Coal India Ltd".

Production today resumed at various mines of CIL and the company officials said that work was on in "full swing" from the first shift itself. Workers began reporting for work from the third shift last night, soon after the strike was called off at around 10 pm.

"We will gear up resources to make up for the deficit during the two-day shut down. We are confident that our production target of 507 million tonnes for this fiscal will be achieved," the official said.

While assuring the trade unions that CIL will not be privatised and the employees' interest will be protected, Goyal also told them that the government would form a committee with representation from all five trade unions and officials of CIL and other coal firms.

CIL accounts for 80 per cent of the total coal produced in the country. It had, however, missed its output target of 482 million tonnes in the last fiscal and produced 462 MT.

"There is no intention of denationalisation of CIL. The present and future interest of CIL employees will not be affected in any manner. CIL will be protected and there need be no apprehension about its ownership or management going into private hands," Goyal had said late last night.

Stating that the issues with the worker unions have been resolved "amicably", Goyal said the government has conveyed it to the unions that the country cannot be content with a production of 600 million tonnes.

He said the nation needs to achieve an output of at least 3 billion tonnes in the next 10 years. The Minister further added that the government was taking steps for better evacuation of coal and tripling the coal explorations in another two years.

Of the 1.6 billion tonnes of the coal output that the government is targeting by 2020, one billion tonne would come from Coal India and rest 600 million tonnes from private sector and others, the Minister added.

Shares of CIL also reacted positively by rising about 3 per cent in the morning trade today, before ending the day with a gain of over one per cent.

While the strike was called off, the issue is likely to be raised in the next session of Parliament as well, as the opposition parties are planning to corner the government on the issue of 'ordinance raj', given a number of ordinances having been promulgated, including on coal auction.

Meanwhile, the government plans to move ahead with its plans to dilute equity in CIL and also open up the sector for private mining. All listed companies are required to have a minimum public holding of 25 per cent, while the same in case of CIL currently stands at 10 per cent.

Goyal also said the action plan towards doubling Coal India's production target is in place, and the transformation process has been initiated.